Tag Archives: The Replacements

Being a kid is all about immediate gratification. They know what they want … and they want it NOW. Actually, rock stars are kinda like that, too. But for most adults, there is an appreciation for the journey. A respect for the gentle pull of anticipation. As we draft this reminder, we’re stretching toward the close of another academic year. We can almost feel the radiant heat of a beautiful summer day, and many of us are patiently waiting for the June release of M.I.A.’s upcoming disc. So, let’s take a collective step closer to these imminent events.

It is a beautiful day here in God’s Country, and Great River Radio is ready to spin some amazing new music for you, including “Born Free,” the first single off M.I.A.’s untitled upcoming release. We’ll also have another track off High Violet, the stunning new album by The National. The number of quality new releases this spring is a bit overwhelming, so we’ll pull out some of the best singles from these CDs and give you a taste of what’s out there. We have tracks from Peter Wolf Crier, Free Energy, Deer Tick, The Mary Onettes, She & Him, Horse Feathers and Apples in Stereo. And it goes without saying that our “Confluence” segment today should be about waiting. How about a couple of old school tracks from The Replacements, Zero 7 and The White Stripes?

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.I learn by going where I have to go.– “The Waking” (Theodore Roethke)

Are you wide awake? Have you recovered from losing an hour of sleep in our “spring ahead”? In a different sense, are you aware of the world waking up around you? Have you seen green shoots rising through dead leaves in your yard? How about that river? It’s waking up and rising, too. The experience of seeing the world again after you (or it) has slept can be a wonderful and also somewhat strange one.

Today on Great River Radio, we are going to explore the concept of wakefulness. Here is a tip on a word you might hear this afternoon: hypnagogia – that state between sleep and wakefulness – the dreamy area we pass through on the way into and out of sleep. As you probably know, we often free associate on our themes on GRR and that will be true for the first hour today when Dan will be playing out tunes from The Bottle Rockets, The Dropkick Murphys, Cloud Cult, two Elvises and new music from John Hiatt and the Danger Mouse/James Mercer (Shins) project called The Broken Bells.

In hour two, Brian will be trying out a new concept – call it a concept album, call it a rock opera – in which he’ll be telling a story through song – from awake to hypnagogia to sleep to confusion to…well, you’ll have to tune in to see how it ends. We’ll be playing that set of songs straight through without interruption. This should be interesting.

Finally, we’ll close the show with a set of tunes in tribute to Alex Chilton who passed away last week.

This is going to be a special show – we hope you can join us this afternoon, or listen later on the blog.

Playlist
Get Down River-The Bottle Rockets
Dirty Water-Dropkick Murphys
October-Broken Bells
July Flame-Laura Veirs
Movin’ On-John Hiatt
When Water Comes to Life-Cloud Cult
While You Were Sleeping-Elvis Perkins
Sleepless Nights-Elvis Costello
Walking Blues-Robert Johnson
If You Were To Wake Up-Lyle Lovett
I Can’t Wake Up to Save My Life-Richard Thompson

Hypnagogic Song Cycle
The Wake Up Song-The Submarines
Please Wake Me Up-Tom Waits
Awake My Soul-Mumford & Sons
Wake Up-Arcade Fire
Wake Up Dead Man-Scala & Kolacny Brothers
Flash Delirium-MGMT
Woke Up Near Chelsea-Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
When You Wake Up Feeling Old-Wilco
Hazelton-Justin Vernon
One Day When the Weather is Warm-Joe Henry
Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream-Johnny Cash
On A Good Day-Joanna Newsom
A Day In The Life-The Beatles

Dan had a dream last night (really, he woke up and called me!) – There we were on the red carpet, cameras flashing in front of our eyes, the people on the bleachers shouting “Great River Radio!” and then someone thrust a microphone in front of him and asked “WHO ARE you wearing?” and Dan, needing to tell the truth, replied “I got this from Dayton’s in 1986 – sorry about the missing button” and then he woke up.

The Great River Radio staff likes to stay in touch with culture – we’re not exactly culture hounds, but like all good English majors, we like to see movies and then talk about them. Between songs during our show, we are often discussing something we’ve seen in the theater. But sometimes we are faced with a choice: music or movie? We can’t do it all!

This afternoon, though, we are going to happily combine our interests and play music from the movies. For the fourth year in a row, Great River Radio will get you ready for Oscar night (next Sunday) by reviewing our favorite songs from soundtracks – from the past year and earlier. We’ve talked often of the inextricable relationship between what we see on the screen and what we are listening to on the soundtrack – we’ll explore that relationship again today and ask, among other questions, why some songs are used repeatedly in soundtracks, and why some directors seem to be more gifted than others in “curating” songs for their movies.

Rather than letting you know what artists we are playing, we’ll pique your interest with movie titles. You’ll hear music from one of our favorite movies of the year “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” from the Tween favorite “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” and from the rugged ”Hurt Locker” and “The Road.” “The 500 Days of Summer” had a wonderful soundtrack, as did “Where the Wild Things Are.” From older films we’ll hear songs from “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” We’ll also be hearing songs which have been nominated for Oscars THIS year from “Crazy Heart,” “Paris 36” and “The Princess and the Frog.”

Playlist
Down In New Orleans-Dr. John
Julia’s Theme-Alexandra Desplat
All Is Love-Karen O and The Kids
Theme from The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-Jon Brion
Unstatisfied-The Replacements
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want-She & Him
Loin De Paname-Nora Arnezeder
The Road-Nick Cave/Warren Ellis
Orange Sky-Alexi Murdoch
All My Days-Alexi Murdoch
Heroes And Villains-Beach Boys
Let Her Dance-Bobby Fuller Four
Up In The Air-Kevin Renick
The Weary Kind-Ryan Bingham
Meet Me On The Equinox-Death Cab For Cutie
Bella’s Lullaby-Carter Burwell
The Journey Begins-Mark Isham
All The World Is Green-Tom Waits
The Way I Am-Marco Beltrami
I Can See In Color-Mary J. Blige
Playground Love-Air
Goodbye-Kevin Shields
Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields remix)-Bow Wow Wow
Pale Blue Eyes-Velvet Underground
Life On Mars-Seu Jorge

Don’t let us get sick
Don’t let us get old
Don’t let us get stupid, all right?
Just make us be brave
And make us play nice
And let us be together tonight
– Warren Zevon

It is Social Justice Awareness Week again at KUST – the twice yearly opportunity for us to explore an issue of importance to our community, nation or world in the context of music. Great River Radio has decided to tackle the very current and very hot problem of health care reform – the topic that we hear about every day, from the extremist pundits and the self interests and the sincere reformers. It is a very personal issue – if we haven’t found ourselves sick and broken and in need of healing yet, our loved ones have, and it is inevitable that we will all interact with America’s huge and complex health care system at some point in our lives.

We want to take this opportunity to bring to GRR listeners some songs that came to mind (including many requests from our listeners) as we ponder the health care debate that is underway in this country this very day. We will supplement the music this afternoon with some readings and thoughts on the situation – one which is too often obscured by rhetorical excess, misinformation and outright lies. If you have (like we have) tried to sort out the accurate information from the politics, you may have just thrown up your hands in frustration.

Unfortunately, we can’t explain the intricacies of the bill which just passed the House, or what the Senate will do to it next. We can’t tell you how the doctor and hospital you go to price their services. We can’t explain what constitutes a “pre-existing condition” and why it isn’t covered by your insurance. But we can entertain you for two hours with music about health, healing, hospitals, illness and, finally, mercy. Tune in to Great River Radio this afternoon as we tackle health care reform in our own tiny way, and catch music by Panda Bear, Fountains of Wayne, Loudon Wainwright, Tom Waits, Annie Lennox, Conor Oberst, Ben Kweller, Ted Hawkins, The Band, Mary Gauthier, The Replacements and others – songs selected by Brian, Dan and YOU.

Next week we’ll return to regular programming at Great River Radio, bringing you a mix of the music we’ve been listening to lately. Our regular feature, Confluence, will concern our best friends: dogs. Let us know your favorite dog songs and maybe Brian and I will bring Sonny and Finn into the studio!

Note: we had some audio problems in the first few minutes of the show, so we are missing a channel – stick with the show, it gets fixed.

Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever castThe water’s warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin

I don’t recall a single careJust greenery and humid airThen Labor day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin“Summer Skin” – Death Cab for Cutie

Summer Lovin’. Endless Summer. Summer of ’69. Boys of Summer. Girls in Their Summer Clothes. There are thousands of reasons musicians write about the lure of a carefree summer. Then we begin to resist fall’s steady pull with all the strength we can summon. Yet here we are post-Labor Day, back to school and filled with melancholy. For our first Great River Radio “Confluence” segment, we will try to capture some of the palpable feelings that arrive with the end of summer. The catalogue is rife with good tunes for this theme as you’ll hear from Buffalo Tom, Death Cab for Cutie, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone. What’s your favorite end-of-summer tune? Let us know, and we’ll try to sneak the request in during the show.

We’ll also kick off season four of Great River Radio by catching up with music you may have missed over the summer. With new song and CD releases by Radiohead, Brother Ali, Why?, Joe Henry, the Dirty Projectors, Holly Williams, the Believers, Avett Brothers, Imogen Heap and many others, there will be plenty to choose from.

Join us today for the first live Great River Radio broadcast of the season.As always, we sift through the scrap heaps of music to bring some of the best new and lasting music to your desktop.

Catch the stream live today at 4-6 p.m. CST: http://kustradio.comCheck in during the show via iChat or AIM: kustradio

And just a reminder to send us some topics for upcoming “Confluence” themes. You suggest a mini-theme, and we find the tunes to match the mood. Feel free to challenge us – our brains could use the exercise.